Democratic Left

Frederick Douglass, born into slavery, was an abolitionist, human rights and women's rights activist, orator, author, journalist, newspaper publisher and social reformer. Below is an excerpt from a speech he gave in Rochester, NY on July 5, 1852.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Immigration reform legislation passed the Senate. But Right-wing culture warriors exacted a cost: the exclusion of family rights for same-sex couples, much to the anger of national and local Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Intersex/Questioning[1] (LGBTIQ) rights groups. Now, following the Supreme Court's striking down the Defense of Marriage ACT (DOMA), that exclusion appears to be less problematic.

Democratic Socialists of America celebrates the two Supreme Court rulings on marriage equality as a major step in the unending struggle for equal rights for the LGBTQ community. A reactionary Supreme Court has had to recognize that most Americans now accept marriage equality. The Court’s decision will enable married same-sex couples to access federal benefits and strikes down Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage in California.

Today the US Supreme Court ruled in two cases related to marriage equality, Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California’s Proposition 8, and Windsor v. United States, the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

I hope you are enjoying our Democratic Left blog. The new blog is a continuation of our print magazine,which for a decade longer than DSA’s existence has been a magazine of the Left, deeply rooted in both the principles of democratic socialism and immediate struggles for reform and empowerment.

Robert W. McChesney is one of the nations’ leading analysts of media and monopoly, and his Digital Disconnect- How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy, is an excellent analysis of the problems that arise when a medium with the capacity to empower people is itself becoming a tool of social control.

DSA was concerned to find out that the company that provides our website and online organizing infrastructure, NationBuilder, had as a client the Trump campaign and other right-wing candidates. Progressives built this kind of infrastructure and tools for digital organizing and we have now lost that organizing edge. We are moving to identify other options for a CMS/CRM. As an under-resourced, member funded organization, this move will take time for us to carry out, but it is an important statement for us to make.